It’s that time of year, time for holiday sales! I’ll admit it, I have one too. For the next month only, the WOLFSBANE and HOUND AND KEY ebooks are both only $1.99! Treat yourself, or treat someone as a gift! I hate to use the “less than the price of a latte” line…
But they’re less than the price of a latte! And unless you’re a speed demon of a reader (or someone who sips cooled coffee for hours) it’ll give you a much longer period of enjoyment!

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For any Portland-area folks looking for some good books and a chance to talk to a whole bunch of interesting authors, I part of an awesome multi-author signing going on this Sunday, November 20, at 4 pm at the Powell’s Cedar Hills Crossing store. Details here.

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Today I’m hosting some other authors to talk about their thoughts on a topic related to our shared anthology!

Untethered Authors Speculate on the Future of Contemporary Fantasy Fiction in Light of Rapid Changes in Technology

Contemporary fantasy fiction changes with the times. The Dresden Files has a very different flavor, for instance, than Dracula. With technology moving along so quickly, is any contemporary fantasy story destined to become a science fiction story? Or maybe just obsolete?

Certainly not! In honor of the book release for Untethered: A Magic iPhone Anthology, four authors discuss their vision of contemporary fantasy’s future.

H.M. Jones: I think contemporary fantasy, now, often thrusts people into situations where they have to make do without technology. Authors often avoid it altogether, and it works for their stories. I think that’s done for a reason. Technology goes in and out of popularity. You don’t want to date your stories, sometimes. At the same time, Back to the Future is dated and silly and people still love it. I think people will integrate technology into their contemporary fantasy more often. I see it happening all the time, now. Sci-fi and Fantasy are growing closer together as we become more dependent on tech. It’s producing great stories.

Jeremiah Reinmiller: Arthur C. Clarke once famously said that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In recent years we’ve also seen some pretty crazy leaps forward in tech. Maybe not in the “cool stuff” predicted in the past (jet packs, and laser guns) but we’ve got super computers in our pockets, connected wirelessly to AIs that can live translate audio and video into new languages. That’s pretty unbelievable. I think this means that anything we can dream up as fantasy or sci-fi right now, will quickly get shoved into non-fiction. That’s not a problem, but it is really cool.

Rhiannon Held: The first wave of solutions seems to have mostly boiled down to “magic causes technology to go haywire! My protagonist thus uses very little technology!” That’s fine, but I think we’ve done it often enough that it’s heading toward overdone. Personally, I find that it helps to avoid having the plot revolve around the technology. If it’s vital to your plot that the hero is in ignorance of an important fact for long enough for him to make a stupid mistake, because his phone had no bars, and then the book is published after cheap, reliable satellite communication reaches all but the deepest caves, the plot falls apart. If, however, the hero checks in with his mom to tell her he survived the climax, it doesn’t really matter if he’s doing it on ancient 4G, or spiffy new satellite. I’d bet contemporary fantasy learns to consistently make sure the magic, not the technological glitch, drives the climax.

Either that, or some of it will go all the way and embrace the technology of the moment, so even after that moment, it will provide a window into how that technology affected our lives! 😉

A. Moritz: I actually don’t think the feel of fantasy will change much; its basic precepts have always been ‘What if…?’ and no matter where technology goes, there will always be more questions. On top of that, you can add magic to ANYTHING, and it will open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Want to see what these authors did with the concept of a magic iPhone? Pick up your copy of Untethered: a Magic iPhone Anthology in ebook or trade paperback today. Find it at Amazon.com, Nook, or wherever you prefer to grab your books.

Extra Interest: Jon Lasser shares “I’ve got an iPhone 6, and will be upgrading to the 7 Plus just as soon as it shows up! What’s really impressed me about smartphones has been the progress of the camera, and that’s what my story touches on.”

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Less than a month from when I arrived home, and I have managed to upload and annotate all of my vacation photos in this handy album. Yeah, yeah, I know, vacation photos, but I promise that these photos, taken by an archaeologist, are provided with captions both humorous and informational!

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I have several events to let you guys know about, one very soon (vacation sort of messed with my timing on that one…) and one in a month or so. If you’re local, I hope I can see you there!

This Friday, September 30, 8 pm at the Wayward Coffeehouse in Seattle, I’ll be part of a multi-author event for the launch of Untethered: A Magic iPhone Anthology.

Then, on November 1 in Seattle and November 3 in Portland, I’ll be appearing with Laura Anne Gilman and Todd Lockwood as part of the SFWA Pacific Northwest Reading Series. More details on the venues can be found here, along with a peek at upcoming readings in the series (they happen once a quarter, with some pretty amazing folks attending!).

Key has lived her entire life in captivity, forced to use her magic to kill the enemies of Ariadne, an ageless woman with powerful magic of her own. Key knows she and Ariadne are both members of the Hand of the Gods, five souls reborn through the ages, but Key remembers none of her past lives. She chafes against Ariadne’s control, and longs to escape to lead a life of her own.

Eric has worked for Ariadne for years in ignorance of her secrets, but now coincidences and bad luck are piling up. When he talks his way into the compound that houses Key and the other members of the Hand, he learns the truth about Ariadne’s magic—and the murders she’s committed with it. Together, Eric and Key escape and set out to find Lantern, the one member of the Hand Ariadne has never managed to capture—and who may know how to stop her for good.

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Reviewers! Hound and Key, my upcoming, stand alone, contemporary fantasy is now available through Netgalley! I’m so excited to get to try this out! One note is that it’s listed through SFWA (you’re awesome, SFWA!), so they’ll be the ones making decisions on requests, rather than me.

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Want to win a copy of Hound and Key before anyone else gets to read it? It’s easy! Anyone who signs up for the newsletter, over to the right, in July or August will be entered in a random drawing to receive a free ebook of Wolfsbane or Hound and Key, your choice! The entry period ends 11:59 PDT, August 31, which means that if you choose Hound and Key you’ll have it September 1, nearly a week before release!

If you like print, head on over and add Hound and Key at Goodreads because I’ll be doing a giveaway there as well in September!

Contest details:
Sign up for the newsletter between July 15 and August 31 (if you’ve already signed up in that period, you’re already entered!)
If your email wins the random drawing, choose from:
1. Ebook of Wolfsbane (epub and mobi available)
2. Ebook of Hound and Key, pre-release! (epub and mobi available)

And probably other places too. Unfortunately, I can’t do preorders for the print edition. However! I have added a handy-dandy newsletter sign up link to the right, and if you input your email there, you’ll get a newsletter when Hound and Key goes on sale in all formats.

In fact, why not sign up for the newsletter anyway! It will only come out about once or twice a year, when I have new books or stories available for you all.

Key has lived her entire life in captivity, forced to use her magic to kill the enemies of Ariadne, an ageless woman with powerful magic of her own. Key knows she and Ariadne are both members of the Hand of the Gods, five souls reborn through the ages, but Key remembers none of her past lives. She chafes against Ariadne’s control, and longs to escape to lead a life of her own.

Eric has worked for Ariadne for years in ignorance of her secrets, but now coincidences and bad luck are piling up. When he talks his way into the compound that houses Key and the other members of the Hand, he learns the truth about Ariadne’s magic—and the murders she’s committed with it. Together, Eric and Key escape and set out to find Lantern, the one member of the Hand Ariadne has never managed to capture—and who may know how to stop her for good.

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Not all the blurbs and such are written yet, since I’m off to Westercon tomorrow, but meanwhile I wanted to share the cover of my new self-pub novel! It’s character-focused contemporary fantasy and is coming out September 6. Watch this space for preorder links around the ides of July!